


Phases

by RedLeaderfic



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Baron is Bad At Communicating, F/M, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Kayfabe Compliant, NXT - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-07 16:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5463104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedLeaderfic/pseuds/RedLeaderfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>NXT superstars are always prepared to take risks in the ring but all the travel they do comes with its own set of unpredictable hazards: traffic jams, accidents, GPS failures.</p><p>Finding out your coworker is a secret werewolf.</p><p>You just never know what might happen on a road trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [APgeeksout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/APgeeksout/gifts).



> Set roughly sometime between Takeover: Respect and Takeover: London. 
> 
> I hope you're having a great Yuletide!

When her right front tire blew out Bayley had just enough time to think _Oh! That sounded kinda bad!_ before her rental hit the lip of a pothole and careened off the road. She pumped her brakes but it didn't stop the car from sliding down the muddy embankment; she braced her arms against the steering wheel when the car hit a rock and went briefly airborne, which was _way_ more terrifying than the Fast and Furious movies made it look. She was going to write that movie studio a letter. A lot of letters.

The car splashed down in one of the big puddles dotting the roadside; the past two days had been nonstop rain and more than one of the shortcut ways back from the Performance Center had been flooded out, that was how she'd wound up lost on this detour road in the first place.

At least Bayley really hoped it was just a puddle. The water was already right at the lip of her open driver's side window and she couldn't get it to close again; she looked around for her phone and spotted it floating outside. She checked the passenger seat, saw her title was still safe in its case and breathed a huge sigh of relief. After a few seconds she managed to slide the case over and hugged it to her chest while she figured out what to do. What little calm she'd managed to keep slipped away when she realized her seat belt was jammed. She was going to be that cautionary story everyone's loud uncle used to justify why he wouldn't wear a seat belt. 

“Hello?” Her voice didn't sound like hers, scared and small. She tried again, forcing more oomph into her voice. “Hello? I, um...I really, really need some help.”

No one answered. Of course no one answered, it was almost the middle of the night and she was on a creepy access road that probably only the alligators used. _Oh God, please don't really be any alligators._

“Hey!” 

It took a second to stop panicking long enough to realize someone really had answered. Bayley looked up and saw Baron Corbin in his bike leathers and up to his hips in the filthy water trying to look into her window. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so happy to see someone. “Hi! I guess you got lost too, huh?” 

She was relieved when he ignored the panicked babbling. “You okay?”

“I...yeah, yeah, I think so. But really no, not at all, please get me out.”

“Is the door stuck? Try to squeeze out through the window.”

“It's not the door, it's my seat belt, it's stuck. Although it's probably the door too, I didn't even try that.”

Baron glanced up and down at the demolished car, his tongue running over his lips. “Okay. Stay there, stay still. My phone's back on the bike, I'll call for the cops and....”

Bayley grabbed for his arm through the open window. “No, no, no, don't leave.”

“You're fine. I'll be right back, someone's gotta get here to cut you out. Don't mess around with it.”

“Why do we have to wait for someone? Help me with the seatbelt and....”

Baron shook his head. “The ground isn't solid, I'm up to my ankles right now. If the car's stable I don't want to risk jarring it loose. I don't know how deep this whole thing is.”

“Oh. I didn't...I didn't think of that.”

“So don't move.” Bayley nodded and realized a second too late maybe she shouldn't do that. “You have to let go of my arm now.”

Bayley forced herself to let go. “Promise you'll come right back.”

“It'll be five minutes, max. Just long enough to make sure they know where we are. Everything's gonna be fine.”

“Okay. Okay, hurry up and come back.” He nodded and she watched him turn to start climbing back up the embankment, clearly having trouble keeping his balance in the thick mud. “Baron!” He spun back around, eyes wide. “What if the car starts sinking?”

He put up one hand, a clear _okay, calm down_ gesture. “Everything'll be fine. Just don't move.”

Bayley watched him until he disappeared into the tall weeds at the top of the embankment, holding her breath until she knew for sure he wasn't going to fall. That would be bad. Embarrassing enough she needed to be pulled out of a swamp, let alone the both of them.

Once he was out of sight Bayley closed her eyes and hugged her title case to her chest. Baron was right. This was all going to be fine. The cops would come, they'd call for a tow, she'd be out of this in no time. All she had to do was stay calm and concentrate on breathing and _not move at all_ and all of this would be over before she knew it. A light drizzle started up – _great, **more rain** , just what we need _ \- and Bayley forced herself to watch the ripples the drops caused in the standing water until she started to calm down. This wasn't so bad, she made herself realize. It was a nice night, the rain was actually kind of pretty when she watched it like this and everything was going to be completely fine.

She'd psyched herself up so much that when the car started moving it didn't register at all. Just a little water coming through the open window, no big deal. It wasn't until the car began to _slide_ sideways further toward the center of the water that the denial shattered; she tried to call for help but panic squeezed her throat shut. She fought the seat belt as the trickle of water coming through the window turned into a deluge, first coming up to her knees, then over her lap and up to her waist in the time it took her to draw a breath. The belt still wouldn't budge; she tried to squirm free of the straps but that didn't work either, there wasn't enough give. 

It wasn't until the water was up to her neck that she found her voice again, managing to just scream “ _Baron!_ ” before water got past her chin and the whole car turned on its side, sinking very fast into what was clearly not a rain puddle but a lake. Water rushed in and when she tried to take a deep breath she sputtered and gagged. The disgusting water made her eyes hurt; the car came to a slow stop on its side and she could see the surface just a few feet up. _So close_. She fought with the seat belt until her lungs burned, remembering the pool games she and her friends used to have when they were kids, daring each other to stay at the bottom as long as they could stand it. 

That had been fun. This wasn't fun. This wasn't fun at _all_ ; Bayley tried to count off the seconds but her head felt fuzzy and she kept losing track. Her vision began spotting; she felt the panic deepen into a sour, pit of her stomach dread. She wasn't going to get free. She was going to have the shortest title reign ever and the Network would put together a super maudlin memorial and Hunter would call her mom to give her the news but she'd already know because someone would have posted a picture of the death car on twitter, the _jerk_.

Bayley felt a hand clamp down hard over her mouth and nose, the shock of it cutting through the oxygen-deprivation haze. She looked up and saw Baron hanging onto the window frame, the awkward way the car had landed forcing him to half-kneel on the car door. Bayley wanted to cry, she was so relieved. 

He made eye contact and gave her a little nod. _You okay?_ She tugged on the seat belt to show him it was still jammed; he glanced at, looked back at her, then closed his eyes for an instant before wrapping the shoulder strap part around his free hand. With a quick, solid tug Baron yanked the whole mechanism right out of the door, leaving it to float free in the water. Bayley was too stunned to even think about moving; he did the same thing to the lap strap, tearing the seat belt material like it was tissue, then gestured at her. _Come on_.

Bayley nodded and tried to get her feet under her to climb through the window but she'd been underwater too long, just that much movement was enough to get her so lightheaded she clutched onto his arm to keep from slumping over. On the second try she managed to brace herself against bottom of the window and he made that _come on_ gesture again; she saw him look up and wondered how bad his own lungs were burning. Baron shook his head and angled himself off of the door; for a second Bayley thought he was going to break off to resurface and grabbed onto him even though logically she knew it didn't help anyone if they _both_ drowned down here. 

But she was wrong about what he was trying to do; he pulled free but instead of heading to the surface he shifted back with one knee braced against the rear door and his hands against the top and bottom of the open driver's side window. His jaw went tight – Bayley thought he _really_ wanted to take a deep breath but obviously couldn't – then she heard a low creaking as he ripped the door half off its hinges so it swung free. Before Bayley could even begin to process that Baron swung one arm under her shoulders and dragged her out; she just managed to hold onto her title case as he pushed off the side of the mangled car. It only took a couple of seconds to break the surface but to Bayley it felt like years; when she was finally able to take a big gulp of air her lungs hurt so bad she started choking. It felt like when she'd overdone running on the track when she'd been trying to get back into condition after the knee injury, that same heavy, suffocating weight on her chest. She felt the muddy ledge under her feet but her legs wouldn't hold her up. She wrapped her arms tight around Baron's neck as he started dragging her up the slippery embankment, feeling intensely embarrassed that she couldn't help him at all. He slipped once, sliding back down so they were up to their waists in water again before he got his balance back. The second time they finally made it all the way up, Baron letting her go and crumpling to his hands and knees choking and sputtering. 

Bayley didn't feel much better. She curled up around her title case and fought to catch her breath.

“You okay?” he said after a few seconds, his voice shaky and strained.

Bayley nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” She managed to push herself up to her elbows and crawl the foot or so closer to him. “How about y---?” He waved her off without looking at her, almost flinching when she tried to touch his shoulder. She backed off and gave him some space, not speaking up again until his breathing something close to under control. “How did you _do_ that?”

“Don't tell anyone.” When he finally managed to look at her his eyes were wide. He looked more freaked out now than he had trying to pull her out of the car. “Don't tell anyone I did that.”

“I...I won't. I won't tell anyone. I promise.” He stared at her for a few seconds, like he was trying to figure out whether he believed her, then he pulled himself up to sit against his bike, his hands clasped behind his neck and his head bowed over his knees. At a loss of what else to do Bayley crawled over to sit beside him, hugging her knees and balancing her case in her lap. She hoped she stopped shaking soon. At least Baron was shaking just as hard, maybe worse. “ _Are_ you okay?”

“Am I---?” He broke off with a short, not hysterical at all laugh. “Yeah. I'm fine.”

“Oh, good. 'Cause I'm not. Like, really, really not.” She stared out into the water, trying and failing to find any sign that her car was down there. “Oh. All my gear.”

“You're the champ. They'll get you new gear.”

It wasn't really about the ring gear, logically she knew they probably would just replace it. She was probably due for new stuff anyway. Focusing on the almost certainly ruined gear kept her from thinking about how still the surface of that murky little pond was and how the ruts in the embankment weren't really deep enough for anyone to notice if they were just driving by. If Baron hadn't happened to be stuck on that same awful detour road she wondered how long it would have taken someone to find her car down there. Days, probably. “I like my gear,” she said, her voice cracking.

“You saved the important thing,” Baron said, rapping his knuckles against the side of the title case. “Why was that in the front seat, anyway? Did you buckle it in?”

Bayley debated with herself for a second whether to answer that honestly. “Yes?” He rolled his eyes and it felt good to laugh at that. “Trust me, when you have yours you'll do the same thing.”

“When, huh?” He gave her a sideways look, like he was trying to gauge whether she'd been making fun of him by phrasing it like that. She hoped he eventually decided she hadn't been. “Why were you riding by all by yourself, anyway?”

“You're by yourself.”

“That's the whole point of taking the bike out on the short hops, so I don't have to get stuck with anyone. When did you get antisocial?”

“I'm not! Carmella went with the guys, Charlotte and Becky aren't around anymore, the new girls are still riding with each other, Dana and Emma hate me and they always ride together anyway, Alexa hates me now too for some reason....” Bayley trailed off as she counted how many names she'd gone through. “I don't think I've every had this many people hate me before. Wow.”

“Hard being the champion.”

“It is, though!” His lips quirked up just the tiniest bit and she realized wait, no, he's not actually picking a fight. “Is this you trying to cheer me up?” He didn't answer, just gave her another glancing, corner of his eyes looks. “'Cause you're not good at it, at all.” He responded with an exaggerated shrug that, strangely, did make her feel a little better. “So that's the real reason for the whole Lone Wolf thing then? Trick everyone into hating you now so nothing changes when you have the belt?”

“Figured me out.”

“It's actually not a bad strategy when I say it out loud like that.” The shakes she thought she'd banished had come back and were a little worse, somehow; she rested her forehead against the cool of her case and tried to will herself not to burst into tears in front of a co-worker. “Thank you so so much.”

“Yeah, well. They'd probably release me if I'd just let you drown.”

She twisted her head to look up at him. “You really are bad at this,” she said, laughing and not really sure why.

Instead of answering he reached up and took the jacket draped over the motorcycle seat and put it around her shoulders. “Hey,” she said, realizing for the first time it was still raining. “You're shivering, too.”

“I'm fine. Take the jacket. ”

Bayley shrugged into it, the sleeves reaching past her fingertips. “You are so tall. I think this could be a dress on me.” She shook herself, hard. “The cops are taking forever.”

“Tax dollars at work, right? This might be a county road, we should bring it up next time the sheriff comes around campaigning.” He rested his arms back against his knees, fingers of his right hand tapping rapid fire against his forearm before Bayley saw him catch himself and and stop, like he was forcing himself to relax. “We could just get on the bike and go,” he said, not looking at her. 

She made herself take notice of how badly his hands were shaking despite his every effort to hide it and the way the rain was pooling on the narrow road because it was so tempting to just say _yes, please, let's just get out of here._ “Nah,” she said, hoping that came out sounding a lot surer than she really felt. “You already called the police, if they get here and we're gone they'll think it was a hoax. Or that...you know, that something really bad happened. Worse than did happen, I mean.” Bayley decided she should probably stop talking before she cracked and got on the bike to just stop looking for her car under all that water. “So we should probably wait.”

She was so relieved when he didn't argue. “Whatever you want.” Bayley huddled deeper into his jacket, wishing it had a hood to keep out the rain. After a few minutes she heard him let out a heavy sigh, then his arm wrapped tight around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “The teeth chattering was getting to me,” he said, still not looking at her.

“Don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone you were nice, either.”

“Not worried about that, no one would believe you if you did.” 

Bayley wasn't sure if he really believed that or not and gave up trying to read his poker face. She felt like she'd just come off being in the ring – not a good night, those always felt great and that high didn't wear off for hours. It felt like one of the bad nights where the crowd was dead and the adrenaline drop made everything ache. “You're really warm,” she said, snuggling tighter against him. “Are you sure you're okay? You feel like you have a fever.”

“I run hot. I told you, I'm fine.”

“I'll feel really guilty if you get pneumonia from all this.”

“You worry a lot.”

“I guess.” She huddled a little further back into his enormous jacket. “Is it okay if I close my eyes for a while? I'm really tired all of a sudden.”

“Go ahead. I'll keep an eye out for the cops. I'm so wired I couldn't sleep if I wanted to anyway.”

“I'm not gonna go to sleep.”

When Bayley opened her eyes again she found herself sitting in the front seat of a police cruiser, the flashing blue and red lights making her flinch. She fumbled around and managed to roll the window down; the rain had stopped while she'd slept and dawn was just starting to break through the half-cleared clouds. A tow truck was backed up to edge of the swampy pool, wheels up the rims in the mud; the bumper of her rental was just visible above the surface of the water. Bayley looked away, the shakes coming back fast and hard. 

“Ma'am?” Bayley started and looked up; a young man in a sheriff's officer uniform was looking in the window, his brow furrowed. “I was just coming to wake you up, we're 'bout to leave. If that's all right?”

“I...sure, yeah. Did you guys just get here?”

The officer blushed bright red. “We're sorry about that,” he said, his north Florida drawl deepening in a way that made him sound vaguely like a Wyatt. “There's been a lot of accidents tonight and we had trouble accessing the roadway.”

“What's going to happen to my car? I mean, it's not even my car, it's a rental. I'm so glad I didn't take my actual car.”

“They're having some trouble getting it out, but I'm sure there'll be word later today once the investigators go over it. The tow guys were impressed you made it out.”

“Adrenaline's pretty crazy,” Bayley said, remembering to bite her tongue just in time. “What happened to my friend?” she said, looking around and realizing she was still wearing his jacket.

“The big fella on the bike? He took off about fifteen minutes ago once we got you all situated. Didn't seem keen on answering questions.”

“He doesn't really like people.”

“Present company excluded. He said that if I didn't see you home personally he'd find me and eat me.”

Bayley winced. “Please don't arrest him. And he doesn't, I mean, know anything really, so you don't have to bother him about this either. I was just lucky he got stuck on the same detour.”

“Don't worry on that end.” The officer glanced away for a second, almost shy. “My partner over there actually knows who the two of you are. Bit of a fan.”

“Tell me he didn't ask for an autograph.”

“That would be very unprofessional,” he said, which wasn't actually a no. “You'll have to come in later today to fill out a report.”

“I know. That's fine.”

“Had to let you know that. You ready to get out of here?”

“I am _so_ ready. Take me home.”

Bayley dozed off again on the ride home and it felt like only a surreal few seconds had passed between being at the side of that road and being safe in her house. After a long, long shower that almost got all of the swamp smell out of her hair and a half hour crying jag she started to feel human again; her pajamas felt like heaven and when she crawled into bed she thought she might actually be able to sleep the three whole hours before she had to be back at the Performance Center. 

She hoped Baron had gotten home okay. 

Once the thought hit Bayley couldn't shake it. She pulled out her laptop; her phone belonged to the alligators now but twitter was always there for her. He hadn't posted anything new in the past few hours but she supposed that didn't really mean anything. “Oh, you jerk, you don't follow me?” she said when her attempt to send a direct message failed.

Well, she supposed that was fair, she hadn't been following him either. At least that she had fixed that. With that done Bayley lay down and closed her eyes, determined to get some actual sleep tonight.

She'd almost managed it when her alert pinged. She dragged herself back to her laptop and was surprised and a little bit delighted to see a “New Follower: @BaronCorbin” message. “At least you're alive,” she said to herself, trying to figure out what DM to send now that she could.

@ItsBayleyWWE: @BaronCorbin You shouldn't threaten to eat police officers

@BaronCorbin: @ItsBayleyWWE only a sherrif's deputy. does not count.

The screen was idle for few minutes.

@BaronCorbin: @ItsBayleyWWE: see you at work

Then Bayley closed her eyes and slept for a solid eighteen hours.

***

Bayley spotted Baron tucked away in a corner of the weight room and plopped down next next to him on one of the leg lift machines. “I don't know how you can so tall and still so hard to find.” 

He looked around the room like he expected the Swerved crew to jump out at him. “Okay. So you found me.”

“Did you get lunch yet? The taco truck guy is back, I managed to catch him before everyone else could swarm in and buy him out like last week,” she said, holding up a bulging paper bag. “I have chicken and fish in here.”

Baron stared at the bag like he was giving serious thought to whether she'd thrown some poison in there. “I...chicken is fine.” 

She handed him three tacos and a handful of napkins, moving to sit next to him on the floor to keep from getting any mess on the machine. He kept giving her dubious looks which she made absolutely sure to ignore. “I have your jacket in my car, by the way. I made sure to have it dry cleaned and everything.”

“You didn't have to do that.”

“Yeah, it was full of mud, I definitely had to do that. I'm surprised you didn't call to ask what I'd done with it.”

Baron shrugged. “Figured you'd bring it around eventually.” A few seconds went by in silence. “You get in trouble for no showing yesterday?”

“Nah. I mean, they weren't thrilled, Coach Sara yelled at me for getting everyone worried but once I explained it was okay.” She frowned for a second. “They did ask more about the title than the did about me, now that I think about it.”

“Title would cost more to replace.” She stared to glare at him but it didn't _sound_ like he'd meant that as an insult, he'd said it that flat tone you used when you were stating obvious facts. She watched him glance around the room again. “Thanks for not spreading around what happened,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“Promised I wouldn't, didn't I?” she answered, matching his tone. “I really don't get it though, if you're _that_ strong I don't get why you're not showing it off. You're always around the top of the leader board in here but you should be blowing everyone away, you could be arm wrestling Cesaro on RAW Monday if you wanted to be.”

“Think I'll pass on that. And I told you, it was just adrenaline.”

Bayley shook her head. “I'm serious. You should just let completely loose at the next taping.”

“That would definitely get trending on twitter.”

She wasn't sure what he meant by that – he'd said it like that would be a bad thing, or at the very least a funny bad thing, but didn't feel like there was an opening to ask. The silence settled back in as they finished eating. “Do you want me to take off?”

His gaze swept over to her like he expected that to be a trick question. “If you want.”

Bayley rolled her eyes. “That's not even close to what I said, you know.” She crumpled up her empty bag. “I know you usually get lunch and do your workouts by yourself, I have eyes and all. If you really would rather it that way I get it, I'm not mad or anything like that.”

Baron gave her a long, level stare. “You really miss those three, huh.”

Bayley let out a sigh. “I mean, yeah, obviously. You're with the same people all that time and...I don't know. You think they'll always be around, I guess? Even when we were all fighting, it never felt the way it...I don't even know where I'm going with this. I didn't think things would be so different.”

“Heeeeey, Corbin.” Baron bristled up and Bayley saw Apollo walking over with two of the other new trainees, that tall guy from Tough Enough and one other one she'd seen around, Dante or Damon or something like that. “I thought you said you were going to come out on top with those rope drills. You owe me a handshake now, right?”

Baron's jaw set; Bayley thought he might get up and kick Apollo's head right off his shoulders if he took one step closer. “Don't remember making any bets.”

Apollo's grin widened in a way that made him look uncomfortably like a shark. “You've been here all this time and they still haven't hammered sportsmanship into your head? Figured you weren't _that_ slow a learner.”

Baron tensed and Bayley put one hand on his arm. “ _Don't_ ,” she whispered. “They'll pull you off TV.”

“That you, Bayley?” Apollo looked around the leg machine, his whole demenor changing and smile turning genuine, like a wizard had cast a spell changing him back into the friend she knew. “Girl, why're you hiding back there? You okay? I heard you had some car trouble.”

“I'm fine,” she said, waving off any further concern. “Rental's not fine, but I'm fine.”

“Right of passage. I must have built up a graveyard of dead cars between Chicago and Philly over the years.”

“It's my first death. I'm thinking of having a memorial for it.”

“Just be more careful. You this place needs around.”

The muscle in Baron's jaw twitched and Bayley knew she should change the subject. “How'd your mom like the cookies?”

“She loved them, only problem is wants me to make them all the time now.” One of the trainers shouted Apollo's name and he raised on hand to acknowledge it. “That's my cue. Got at title shot to train for, after all,” he said, a trace of that shark's smile coming back. “If you're trying to cheer up Captain Grumpy over there, he's a lost cause.”

Apollo and his two buddies walked away and if anything Bayley thought that got Baron even more on edge. “Do not throw a barbell at his head.”

“Why not?”

“You might miss and hit one of the trainers.”

“I'll be careful.”

Bayley shook her head. “He must be having a bad day, he's not usually at jerk like that.”

Baron snorted. “He's not usually a jerk to _you_.” His eyes hadn't left Apollo, following as one of the trainers ran him through cardio drills. “He's been here five minutes,” he said, and Bayley knew he didn't mean just in the room. “He doesn't get to talk like he has that belt already.”

“Give it a week and he might, thought.”

“He's not winning the title.” Bayley almost asked why he was so sure but then decided she probably didn't want to know. After a few seconds she could see him seem to shake it off, giving her that sideways glance she was starting to get used to. “So is that what you're trying to do? Cheer me up?”

“No,” she said and seriously, the thought hadn't even occurred to her. “I was trying to see if you wanted tacos.” 

“You don't owe me anything, if that's....”

“Has nothing to do with tacos.” And while that may not have been why she'd walked over, the quick twitch of his lips at that did almost count as a smile. “So be honest: do you want me to take off so you can lone wolf around?”

He shrugged. “You're fine.”

“Good. The new girls colonized our old lunch spot anyway.”

“You're the champion. Kick them out.”

“I'm not going to turn into a huge jerk because I won. That's like, a personal goal. Little kids dress up as me.”

“Missed opportunity.”

“I'll have to live with it.” Bayley couldn't believe the hour had gone by so fast; she tossed the balled up bag into the trashed can, fist pumping when she made the shot. “Your turn to buy next time.”

***

Bayley had all but forgotten about that a few days later when day her training session ran long – one little knee surgery and every tweak sends the trainers into a panic, apparently - and she was so drained she didn't even notice the bag duct taped to her locker until she opened it and it almost smacked her in the face. Bayley pried the it away from her locker and looked it over; inside were three wrapped tacos and YOU'RE IT scrawled in sharpie across the front.


	2. Chapter 2

The rental agency was _swamped_. Bayley didn't know what convention was in town this time – there always seemed to be some kind of convention snatching up the good cars when they were trying to make out of state dates, and never one of the fun ones. Bayley thought she wouldn't mind losing the last midsize to a guy dressed like Darth Vader, but it was always Ill-fitting Suit Man, the worst of all heroes. The pickings were slim and she was relieved Carmella had gotten there early enough to grab one of the last decent ones.

Bayley put her sunglasses on and put both hands on the wheel, taking a few deep, slow breaths. This tour it was her turn to drive and she was completely fine with that. And they were just going to Alabama. Right over the border. No sweat.

Carmella leaned over the center console, breaking into her thoughts. “Honey, you have to start the car sometime.”

“I know. I will.” She drummed her fingers against the wheel. “You have the directions, right?”

“Already in the GPS.” When Bayley put the key in to start the start the engine Carmella reached over and stopped her. “I'm okay to drive, you know.”

Bayley leaned her head back against the seat. “No. No, it's my turn. It's past my turn, you drove the past two weeks.”

“You know I don't mind. I like driving, I never get to when I ride with Cass and Enzo, they get all macho about it.”

“You _like_ them being 'all macho.' You encourage it, I think they're worse now than before you came in.”

“I know, isn't it great?” Bayley rolled her eyes as Carmella mimed Enzo's scowl before dissolving into giggles. “So let's switch, I've got this trip.”

“No. I'm the champ, I can't be the champ if I can't drive to one little house show.”

“I don't think that's written into the contract.”

“It's one of those really small print clauses, I'm pretty sure.” Bayley took another deep breath and busied herself by adjusting the mirrors; just as she clicked the driver's side one into position she noticed Baron rush up to the rental agency counter. “Uh oh, someone got here late.”

Carmella leaned out the window to take a look herself. “Oops. Guess Mr. Lone Wolf is the one stuck with the shame car this trip.”

“What was left?”

“When I was there? Two subcompacts. He'd probably get there faster if he carried one of those things to Mobile.”

Bayley didn't think even those were left; she watched as Baron walked out of the rental agency with his hands in his pockets, looking around like one would materialize if he tried hard enough. “Hey!” she shouted at him, waving out the window to get his attention. She saw him spot her but when she tried to wave him over he turned his head like he thought she was talking to someone behind him. “No, you,” she said, waving him over again. “C'mon, you can ride with us.”

Baron hesitated for a second, doing that quick look around for the Swerved cameras she remembered from the first time they'd had lunch together, then he shrugged and started to walk over.

Carmella's eyebrows were practically in her hairline when Bayley rolled the window back up. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, grinning as she put her sunglasses on. 

“Get in the back,” Bayley said, finally turning the engine over and popping the trunk for him

“You're kicking me out of shotgun?” Carmella said, with mostly mock outrage. 

“Look, this isn't a subcompact but it's not _that_ big. There's barely enough room for you back there, let alone him. Poor guy won't be able to walk by the time we get to the show.”

“Mmhmm.” Carmella slid in behind Bayley without any further protest, leaning up with her arms against the back of the seat. “So what's the story with you two?”

“There's no story.”

“Oh, come on. We're friends, you can tell me. You two have been getting lunch together almost every day for the for the past two weeks, there is a _story_.”

 _Oh, nothing. He just saved my life tearing a car door off its hinges with his bare hands, no biggie._ “Why does eating lunch with a friend need to have a big story?”

“Mmhmm,” Carmella said again. Her grin took up almost the entire rearview mirror. “The tall ones are pretty great, right?”

“Oh my God, stop.”

“So how many tattoos does he have, anyway?”

“That's it, you don't get to talk for the rest of the trip. Rules of the car.”

Carmella sat back with that grin still on her face as Baron climbed into the passenger seat and strapped in, still looking dubious about this whole thing. “Thanks,” he finally said, looking like he was thinking seriously about changing his mind when Carmella gave him a big wave from the back seat.

“No big deal. You can't walk to the show, right? You get your stuff in the trunk okay?”

“Yeah, there was room. Where'd you stash your title?”

“Carmella's babysitting it,” Bayley said, nodding to the back. 

“You buckle it in?”

“Of course. Safety first,” she ignoring how Carmella's eyebrows went back up that he knew she did that. “Okay, everyone ready?”

“Seat belt,” Baron said softly.

“Oh.” Bayley hadn't realized she hadn't put hers on. “Oh, right.” Her hands shook a little and it took two tries for the buckle to catch. When that was done she took a deep breath, squeezing her hands tight around the steering wheel. When she glanced around the car one final time Baron caught her eye, giving her an almost imperceptible nod and Bayley felt the hard knot in her chest unravel. “I'm good,” she said to no one in particular. “Let's go.”

***

Traffic around the airport was a nightmare coming back into Florida and it was long past sundown by the time Bayley pulled up to Baron's house. She was almost glad Carmella had decided to catch a ride back with Cass and Enzo, she hoped they'd had better luck. He'd fallen fast asleep somewhere around Dade County; Bayley turned the engine off and let the car sit quiet, not seeing the harm in letting him sleep for a few more minutes. She'd done really well and won both her matches but he'd gotten knocked around by Joe two nights in a row and was sour enough about it she'd let him pick the music for the trip back. 

After about ten minutes he started awake, looking around for a second like he wasn't sure where he was. “Morning, sleepyhead,” she said. “Well, almost middle of the night, really.”

He rubbed his hands over his face. “Sorry.”

“Nah, don't worry about it. You sleep like a rock by the way, I hit that street with all the potholes coming out of Dade and still nothing.”

“Sometimes I do, yeah.” He looked out the window, realizing they were outside his house. “How long have we been sitting here?”

“Like, barely ten minutes.”

He gave her that sideways _you are a crazy person_ look. Bayley kind of liked that look, she'd gotten pretty good at figuring out how to earn it over the last few days. “You could have woken me up.”

“Like I said, don't worry about it. You're not so bad to ride with, y'know. I don't know why you make it seem like you'd be such a pain.”

“You're going to ruin my reputation.”

“That's what I do, I'm a ruiner.”

For all his protesting he didn't seem to be in any hurry to get out of the car, letting the next few minutes draw out. “Figured you would have started asking questions by now.”

Bayley folded her arms against the steering wheel. “Would you answer them if I did ask?” That he didn't quite meet her eyes was as good an answer as any. “I figure if you really want to tell me what's up with you then you will. Bugging you about...whatever it is won't help. Not saying I wasn't really tempted this whole trip back.” She looked out the windshield. “Pretty night, at least. Full moon.”

Baron glanced up, not looking nearly as impressed. “No. Tomorrow.”

“Really? What, do you keep track?”

“Something like that.” He fell silent again and Bayley went back to counting how many stars she could make out through the light pollution. “How about we switch places and I drop you off?”

Bayley was so deep in concentration she felt herself start. “What? No! I mean, you're already right here.”

Baron shrugged. “So? I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep for a while, might as well be useful. I don't mind bringing the rental back.”

“That makes no sense. Just go home, I'm fine.”

“You sm---you seem a little edgy.”

Bayley glanced at him for just a second before having to look away again, her fingers fast drumming on the steering wheel. “I guess I'm not hiding that too well, huh?” He didn't justify that with a response and she leaned her head against the wheel. “I haven't actually driven at night by myself since...y'know. I know I have to, it's like botching a moonsault and being scared of the top rope, I know what this is. I just...keep meaning to, like, _this_ will be the night and then I get in the car and sit in the driveway for a while and go back inside.”

After letting her wallow for a few seconds Baron sighed. “So do you want to switch or not? I'm getting tired of staring at the goddamn moon.”

“I know you're trying to be a jerk but the total lack of sympathy actually helps.” Bayley sighed herself, pushing herself back from the steering wheel. “Okay. But only if you really are going to be up anyway.”

“Yes. You’re doing me a favor,” he said, managing to make it so dry it almost looped around into sounding genuine again. 

Bayley tossed him the keys and stepped out of the car, stretching out the shoulder Alexa had spent most of the weekend trying to dislocate. When she got around to the other side of the car Baron was leaning against the passenger’s side door massaging the heels of his hands into his forehead. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine. Gonna really feel it tomorrow but I’m fine.”

“Tell me about it, Alexa practically tried to take my arm out of socket and beat me with it.” He didn’t really look that fine now that Bayley was close up but she doubted he would appreciate her pointing that out. “Look, just go home. I’ll just deal---” Before she could get the rest of the sentence out Baron gave her a glare, like she was trying to take a title shot from him instead of just giving him an out. “Now see, _that’s_ the look Bloom wants you to do in promos.”

That broke the tension, getting Baron the closest the cracking up Bayley thought she’d ever seen him. “God, just get in the car.”

“You’re kinda in the way.” He shifted over, looking a little sheepish that he hadn’t realized that. “Really though, thanks. I mean it.”

“Do not hug me.”

“Spoilsport,” she said, letting him open the door for her. “You’re missing out, my hugs are awesome. T shirts don’t lie, there are laws against it.” He just rolled his eyes again and slammed the door harder than he probably needed to, studiously ignoring her as he walked around the front of the car. She started playing with the radio presets while he pulled the seat all the way back and started the car. “I get to pick the music this time, we listened to your stuff the whole way back.”

“That’s not fair, I was asleep for half of it.”

“Life is not fair. Ooh, they’re playing Adele’s whole album!”

“Please don’t sing along.” 

“You can either ask me not to hug or you can ask me not to sing along. Can’t have both.” She gave him a quick, appraising look; she didn’t _really_ know him well enough yet to know his teasing limit and definitely didn’t want to hit it tonight, especially with him doing her an enormous favor. 

She was relieved when his only reaction was a huge, theatrically long-suffering sigh. “You want to get some food? I’m starving.”

“Really? Yeah, sure, I am totally up for some late dinner. There’s a diner off the highway that’s really great, me and Carmella stop there all the time, and Sasha and Charlotte and Becky when they were here, too. Well, we used to, we went with the guys once and Enzo got himself kicked out so we’ve been letting things cool off.”

“Yeah? What over?”

“I don’t know! Something about pizza.”

“I don’t get those two.”

“They’re good guys, just y’know. Intense.”

“You think everyone’s a good guy.”

“I’ve gotten proven right more times than wrong. Here, take this turn, then the next two lefts….”

***

It was almost two hours later when Baron finally dropped her at her place. “That was fun. It’s way too late, but that was fun.”

“I don’t believe the waitress remembered you.”

“I told you, we went there all the time. And she mostly remembered Enzo, I think. You look a lot better.”

Baron quirked an eyebrow at her. “What did I look like before?”

“Like you were about to fall over, honestly.”

He shook his head. “Nah. Everything’s not gonna catch up with me until later.”

“First day back after a loop is the worst, right?” She got her bag out of the trunk and balanced her title belt case on top of it as she leaned her arms on the open driver’s side window. “Seriously though, thanks for this.”

“What do I have to do to stop you from thanking me?”

“Stop being unexpectedly nice, I guess. See you at work.”

He shook his head. “Off day.”

“Off day right after a tour, lucky you. No wonder you were good with staying out.” At least that explained why he wasn’t in any big rush to get home. “Oh, ow,” she said, noticing a killer bruise right on his elbow. “Make sure you let the trainers look at that.”

“I didn’t even notice it,” he said, and he look surprised enough at seeing it for her to think that wasn’t just macho posturing. “It’ll be gone in a couple of days.”

“What else did Joe do to you that you don’t feel that?”

“You're giving Joe way too much credit.”

“Fine, be Mr. Tough Guy. You're okay to get home, right?” 

Baron gave her that look like she was talking crazy again. “Why wouldn't I be?”

“It is kinda late.” Bayley didn't recognize the implied invitation there until the words were already out; she'd never been much of a flirt, this wouldn't be the first time she'd stumbled headfirst into this kind of thing. She tried to picture Baron taking her up on that invitation. She realized she'd be okay with that.

But it turned out not to matter. “I told you before, you worry too much.” He started the car back up and there was a second lag where Bayley knew if she was going to make an explicit invitation, this was going to be the time.

She stayed quiet, watched him drive off and tried very hard not to kick herself. But this was the smart thing, it wasn't the kind of business where you made a lot of friends. Both their lives were complicated, they both needed to focus on the job or years of hard work would go to waste. 

Better this way.


	3. Chapter 3

Bayley heard her phone ring and fumbled for it, groaning when she forced her eyes open and saw it was a little past one AM. The first day back at the Performance Center after a loop was always a grind; Bayley hadn't even been able to crawl into bed until almost midnight. The phone went quiet after only three rings, not even long enough to go to voice mail. She checked the phone and found Baron's name on the missed call screen. _Weird._

After a few seconds she put the phone back on the nightstand and closed her eyes; she was just on the edge of falling back asleep when the phone rang again. This time she picked it up on the first ring, because _seriously_. “What? What, what is it, something better be on fire.”

“I...I know, it's late. Sorry.”

Bayley sat up in the bed; that was definitely Baron but his voice was tight and clipped, like he was trying to talk through clenched teeth. “Hey. You okay?”

“Having...it's a bad night.”

It took him two tries just to get those words out and Bayley felt her stomach twist up. “Hey, it's okay. That happens to all of us,” she said, settling back against her headboard. “It's your back, right? That one German Joe did landed pretty ugly.” He didn't answer but the way he was audibly breathing around pain worked pretty well as a confirmation. “Back spasms are the worst, my first year I got them all the time. I thought I was never going to sleep through the night again for a while.” He started to say something in response but it got strangled off by a groan, his breathing going fast and labored. “Shh, shh shh. It's okay, you're okay. Breathe through it. Slow your breathing down and focus on that.” It took a few minutes but his breathing finally eased back toward something closer to normal. “You have to tell the trainers if it's this bad. Call them now, someone will come out there, you know they will.”

“Trainers can't help with this.”

Bayley fought back the urge to remind him how _pissed off_ the trainers would be if he hid an injury and they found out after the fact. That was the opposite of helping and it wasn't like Baron didn't know that. “Okay. So what can I do? Tell me what I can do.”

“Just...just talk to me for a little while.” Bayley could just about feel his embarrassment radiating through the phone. “Usually I call up Graves when it gets bad but he's on a red eye and I couldn't think of who else....”

“Hey, look, it's okay. Good thing you have two friends now, right? Someday you might even have three and then you really won't know what to with yourself.” He actually laughed at that for a second before it turned into a pained hiss. “Talk about what?”

“Doesn't matter. Just gives me...gives me a focus.”

“I used to call my mom for that. She'd go on for hours about her stories.” 

“Maybe don't talk about that.” She guessed he couldn't be too bad off if he was still able to snark at her. “What...what did I miss today?”

“Oh, man. Um,” she said, trying to put the day back in order. “Canyon Ceman showed up, like, first thing in the morning.”

“Yeah? Who'd he can?”

“No one! Don't even say things like that, it's morbid.”

“It's true. Guy's the grim reaper in a suit.” 

“He did freak out a lot of the newer guys, just showing up like that,” Bayley admitted.

“Which one of your crew said he was some kind of lizard?”

“Oh God, Becky, yeah. It wasn't just him, there was a whole secret lizard conspiracy. It went all the way up to the royal family.”

“Girl has problems.”

“Leave Becky alone. Becky's great. Throw stones when you're not friends with people who tattooed fish on their necks.”

“...Okay. Fair.” 

He was slurring his words, just enough to get Bayley worried. “Don't feel like you have to tough this out because you're talking to me. Go ahead and cry or whatever if you need to, I've done that plenty of times.”

“I'm not gonna cry.”

She hadn't actually expected him to but the outrage made him sound a little more _there_ and that had been the whole point. “I'm not saying you have to, just that it's okay. You won't lose any street cred with me and I won't tell anyone. I'm good at keeping secrets.”

“I know. Wouldn't have called if...if you weren't.” He groaned again, sharp like the pain had caught him off guard. “What...what else happened?”

Bayley ran through the whole day, from the early morning meetings picking apart the tour to the rookie promo class which...had not gone that great to who looked good at the afternoon tryouts. He didn't respond aside from laughing once when she mentioned one of the rookies completely melting down at meeting Regal. (“Seriously, though! He asked for an autograph in the middle of the rope drills!”) Mostly it was more ragged breathing mixed with the occasional smothered groan and Bayley could feel herself quietly getting a little frantic. She couldn't remember ever having spasms be this bad for this long. “Hey? You still there?”

“Yeah. Yeah, still here.”

The slurring was back. “Are you taking anything for this?”

“Nothing to take. Stuff doesn't work on me anyway, I'll be fine in the morning.”

“This is dumb, I know where you live. I'll come over, you're not even that far away.”

He almost sounded panicked at that. “No, no, that's not a good idea.”

“Why?” He didn't answer. “Look, I've had people stay up with me all night plenty of times, it's not a big deal.”

“Better if you stay there.”

Bayley already had her shoes on and her car keys in hand. “Probably, yeah, but either I'm coming over or I'm calling an ambulance because you're scaring the hell out of me.” He didn't have an answer and Bayley told herself it was because he was conceding defeat instead of passing out. “Still there?”

There were a few very long seconds were Bayley almost called 911 anyway. “Yeah.”

“Okay, good. Where was I?” She put him on speaker and kept up the steady stream of chatter, getting responses maybe half the times she prompted for them. The full moon was bright enough she almost didn't need headlights, another pretty night like the one before and that calmed her down to remember the way with only one wrong turn. She pulled up right behind the motorcycle in his driveway and breathed a long sigh of relief. “Okay, I'm here, open up.”

He groaned and at least this time it wasn't just because something hurt. “I told you not to do that.”

“Yeah, well, I'm in your driveway so I obviously didn't listen.” She turned off the car and leaned her head back against the seat. 

“Hey, you drove by yourself. Congratultions.”

“I had a breakthrough. Your master plan worked. Open the door.” He didn't answer and Bayley made sure to wipe any trace of fooling around out of her voice. “Level with me. Can you come to the door or do I have to come in through one of your windows? Because I will do it.”

“Should've...should've left you in that pond.”

“Lies.”

“Might agree by the end of the night.” He groaned again, swearing under his breath. “If I tell you to leave you have to do it. No questions. You go.”

“Okay. That's weird, but okay. Whatever you want.”

“Now who's the liar.” He swore again, whimpering this time. “Gimme a minute.”

It took almost five before she heard a weight slump against the front door, long enough for her to realize she hadn't changed out of her pajamas and get self-conscious about it. There were a few more seconds of audibly clumsy fumbling with the locks before the door swung open. Baron didn't look at her as she slipped inside, slamming the door shut the instant he could. He did a bad enough job of redoing the locks that she waved him aside and did them herself. “Do you really need three deadbolts? This is pretty good neighborhood.”

“Not them I'm worried about.” That didn't make sense but Bayley let it go. The house felt like he had the air conditioning on full blast but Baron looked like he'd just come from the ring, dripping sweat even those he was shirtless and just wearing his work out sweats. He propped himself against the wall while she double checked the locks, his arms crossed across his chest. “How's my eyes look?” he said, finally looking up.

“Um. Fine? A little bloodshot, maybe?” Baron nodded, waving her off when she took a step closer. “Why? Do they hurt? 

“Never mind. Remember what I said.” He pushed himself from the wall and started back down the hallway without giving her another glance. 

Right when the hall opened up into the next room his legs buckled and he stumbled into the archway; he caught himself before he could fall, leaning all his weight against the wall. “If you drop I don't think I can pick you up,” she said, standing close by just in case she was going to have to give it a shot anyway.

“You're the one who wanted to come over,” he said after a few seconds of fighting to catch his breath. He pushed himself back to standing and swayed more than she'd have liked but managed to stay on his feet this time. 

Once they got to the living room Baron collapsed onto an enormous leather sectional with a soft groan, massaging the heels of his hands into his forehead the way he had the night before outside the car. _Maybe he gets migraines._ “Is it okay if I look around?” He gave her a vague wave as he curled up on his side, which she guessed counted as permission. “You have a really nice place.”

“Thanks, NFL.”

She inspected the trophy case against the left wall, his football rings and boxing awards all displayed around a suspiciously title belt-sized blank space. “Guess you have plans for this shelf, huh?”

“Sooner rather than later, too.”

Bayley grinned; that sounded more like the Baron she knew. “I think you're right about that.” 

“Crews bitch about me not being there today?”

“Stop worrying about what Apollo thinks.” She checked out the next display case and recoiled back. “Why do you have a thing full of skulls?”

“I...like skulls? They're not all skulls.”

“There's a lot of skulls. Where do you even buy skulls?”

“...Lots of places.”

“Is that a bear in the back?”

She turned her head just in time to catch his grin. “That one was hard to get.”

“Weirdo.”

“Don't...don't judge your hobbies.”

“My hobbies aren't collecting skulls and putting them in a display case in my living room.” Honestly, she didn't really mind the skulls so much but if it kept him talking she would talk about skulls all night. She sat on the floor in front of the sofa; he had one of the football games from the past weekend paused on his impressively large TV. “You want me to start this back up?” Baron nodded, his eyes heavy and half-closed. “Okay.” He'd sounded bad on the phone but up close he looked truly awful, deep, dark circles under his eyes and no color in his face. “Why are you watching this with the sound off?”

“The announcers piss me off. They always did. Assholes.”

The slurring was back. “That's Arizona playing, right? Was that one of your teams?”

He nodded. “Still talk to some of those guys.”

“See? You can make friends.”

“Different then.” He shivered hard, whole body tensing up for a few painful seconds before whatever it was eased. His right hand stayed clenched so tight into the sofa cushion Bayley didn't know how he wasn't tearing through the leather, his knuckles practically pushing through his skin. When his breathing started to get ragged again she snaked her hand up and slid it between the cushion and his hand, very, very casually. She felt him startle when she touched him and fought the urge to hold her breath. 

A few seconds of past without either of them moving, then he shivered again. This time he grabbed her hand and squeezed so tight she felt her fingers start to go numb. “Just breathe through it,” she said, stroking his fingers with her thumb until she felt him finally start to relax. “I really wish you would let me call someone.”

“I don't need it,” he said, way too breathless to be convincing. “What time is it?”

“Half past three.”

“Thought so. Felt like it was around there.” What got Bayley was that he said that as if it made sense. “You smell nice.”

“Wow, you _are_ out of it. ”

“You do.”

“Are you messing with me? I'm not wearing perfume or anything, I didn't even change out of my pajamas.”

“Take...take the compliment.” He groaned again, pressing his face into the cushions in a futile effort to choke it back, and Bayley'd had enough. She boosted herself next to him on the sofa, something it took him a few seconds to notice. “What're you doing?”

“Look, you're not a hugging person, I get that. I do. But honestly, I am really, really good at hugging. I've kinda based my whole career on it. And you really, really need one right now.” His eyes were very wide. “One hug. Okay?” He nodded and Bayley wrapped both arms around him, stretching out next to him on the sofa. His pulse was racing impossibly fast, should-probably-be-dead fast. So that was a little terrifying.“You feel like you're cooking.”

“Told you, I'm just like that.” It took a few minutes but his arm finally looped around her waist, limp at first and then getting slowly tighter, his hand pressing flush against the small of her back. 

“That's better, right?” Baron nodded; when he shivered hard again Bayley squeezed him tighter, letting him bury his face into the curve of her neck. “Try to go to sleep.”

“No. No, don't let me fall asleep.”

“ _Why?_ ”

“Just don't.”

Okay. Okay then, fine.”

“You still want me to talk?” she said into his ear. He nodded again, wrapping more tightly around her. She glanced at the TV. “How about I tell you what's going on with the game, since you hate the announcers for some reason? I don't know it as well as you do, so don't laugh if I get something wrong.” She talked him through the rest of the third quarter, her lips right up against his ear. The shivering settled into a constant trembling, they way you shook when you worked out way too much and your muscles all gave out at once, that horrible, drained exhaustion where everything hurt. 

“What...what time is it now?”

“Almost twenty past four.” 

He groaned, a tremor running all the way through him. “I thought it was later.”

She pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes, spooked when she saw his pupils were constricted down to pin pricks in the dimly lit room. “You're gonna get through this,” she said, pushing that away. “I'm going to be right here with you the whole time, I promise.” His eyes went unfocused for a second, like that moment of wooziness right before going under in a submission and she leaned back in close. “Hey. You said not to let you fall asleep.”

“You...you need to leave. Now.”

She'd wondered how long it would take before he'd call her bluff. “No,” she said, her own heart jackhammering in her chest now.

Baron stared both at her and through her for a few very long seconds. The look in his eyes reminded her of the moment she'd looked at the surface of the water above her and realized she was never going to be able to get out of that car.

He shivered when she kissed him, his whole body going tense. “I'm not going anywhere,” she said, whispering right into his ear again. “I don't do things like that to my friends, okay?” His arm locked tight around her waist when she kissed him again and this time he even managed to kiss back a little. When she pulled back some of the fog he'd been in seemed to have lifted. “You still with me?”

He nodded. “You could've...could've done that a couple hours ago.”

“I was working my way up to it.” She wrapped back again around him and this time he leaned into the hug like he needed as much skin contact as possible. She went back to talking into his ear, about football and work and best matches she'd ever seen and anything else she could possibly think of.

All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped; he took a deep breath and all the agonized tension flowed out of him. She looked up and saw sunlight leaking around the edges of the heavy blackout curtains covering the windows and remembered just in time not to ask questions she knew she wouldn't get answers to. “That last hour always kills me.” He kissed her before she could even think about what that could mean, a deep kiss that after a few seconds made her forget she'd even had any questions. His one hand splayed flat against his back and the other tangled up in her hair and this was a terrible idea, Bayley knew that. When he finally pulled back he was flushed and breathless she pulled him back into another kiss anyway. She was okay with this being a terrible idea if Baron kept looking at her just like that.

But the next time he came up for air she had to admit he also looked completely exhausted, his hands trembling and eyes staying open through sheer force of will. “Hey,” she said, giving him another light kiss on the lips. “Now you can go to sleep.”

“Now I don't want to.”

“I said I wasn't going to leave, right?”

He wrapped back around her like he was going to make sure she kept that particular promise. She watched him fall asleep and lay there tangled up with him as the sun kept rising.

***

Almost a full week went by with Baron acting like absolutely nothing had happened before he grabbed her by the arm and without saying a word pulled her into one of the small conference rooms, slamming the door shut and looking around to make sure it was one of the few still not wired with cameras. “All right, fine. You get some answers.” Bayley settled against the wall and waited for him to figure out what he was trying to say. He hadn't looked at her once since locking the door. “Never actually told anyone about this before.”

“About _what_?”

Baron drummed his fingers on the window ledge he was leaning against. “You've figured out by now the thing with Balor, that's not all just paint right? That all of that's real?”

Bayley felt her mouth go dry. She wanted to say _Of course it's not, what are you talking about?_ but she'd been around Finn before Takeovers and seen someone else staring out through his eyes too many times to pretend. “Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“You know what werewolves are?”

“Of course I---”

“They're not made up either.”

It took a few seconds for her brain to really process what he'd just said. “Oh. Wow. That's...that's really not where I though this was going.” Baron just shrugged, crossing his arms like he was waiting for her catch up. “This isn't a rib, is it. 'Cause this would be a really mean rib.”

“I'd come up with a better one if it was.”

Bayley pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. “That's why you were such a mess last week. It was a full moon.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“But wait, if you're a werewolf you're supposed to turn into a wolf when there's a full moon, right?”

“It's not like the movies, okay?”

“Except for turning into a wolf once a month? Or does that not happen?”

“It doesn't....” He sighed, raking one hand through his hair. “It used to happen every month, yeah. Now usually I can keep it back it try hard enough. Once or twice a year I can't and then I deal with it but nine times out of ten I can keep all of that from happening.”

“What do you mean, you deal it?”

“I have a...room in the house. Like a reverse panic room. It would be easier with a basement but they're hard to come by around here. Gonna have a hell of a time explaining it if I ever sell the place.

A lot of things started clicking. “That's why you tried to get me to leave.”

Baron shook his head. “That got close. Closer than I usually cut it.” He stared down at the floor for a few seconds. “I don't think I would have been...okay...if you hadn't come over, so. Thanks.” He drummed his fingers against the ledge some more. “You're taking this _really_ well.”

“I...don't know how I'm supposed to take it. What did you think I'd do, scream and run out of the room?”

Baron shrugged. “Probably, yeah.”

“Well, I'm not,” she said, crossing her arms. “That's why you were able to do all that when I crashed the car.” He shrugged again, almost embarrassed this time, like she'd caught him cheating. “So why _aren't_ you that strong all the time?”

“Too risky. The moons are the worst but it's always there in the background, it can happen any time if I'm not careful. I push it too much and bad things happen. Not saying I've never gotten an edge like that but....” He let the words trail off into a silence that made Bayley's stomach churn. “Each time I slip up it's harder to come back. And that’s assuming I don’t bust myself up too much. Not worth it.”

“What...do you mean, 'come back.'”

He sighed. “Okay, that part is like the movies, I guess. When it happens I'm not...in there anymore. I just go for the first person I see, I bounced Graves off a wall without trying once and I wasn't even completely gone yet.”

“So he does know! You said you hadn't told anyone.”

“I didn't tell him, he found out. That sucked.”

“God, I was wondering. He's the only guy you really hang out with.”

“He's a good guy. That was a while ago, he was still on TV and I wasn't yet. Could have gotten me kicked out if he'd told but he didn't.”

“You seriously think that would get you kicked out? Have you seen the main roster? They'd play up the wolf thing even more than they do already – wait, he started calling you the Big Bad Wolf and stuff on commentary knowing you're a werewolf?”

Baron grinned. “Yeah, he's an asshole like that.”

“Seriously, this would be a _big deal_ if you let people know. You already mentioned Finn....”

“They brought Balor in knowing what was up with him. It's different.”

“But why do you think...?”

“What happens to the guys they decide are dangerous? You've been around as long as I have, you've seen it. How much TV time do they get? You fuck up too often, you're gone.” That was hard logic to argue against. “You think the brass would put risk their golden boy in the ring with me if they knew?” He shook his head. “It took me years to get where I am now, I'm not going to to give anyone an excuse to take this away. I didn't want to quit playing ball, they cut me. I will never let that happen again. I'm not losing this.”

Bayley remembered when she'd hurt her knee, sitting in trainer's office and knowing exactly how he felt. “What does it feel like? You were such a wreck that night.”

He paused for a second, his tongue running over his lips as he groped for the right words. “You know that coupe de gras thing Balor does? Where he comes down with all his weight right on your chest?” Bayley nodded. “Like that. Only it's everywhere, starts in my chest, goes to my head, then it's everywhere. You feel your bones break. And if you're trying to push it back that keeps going on until the sun comes up.”

“Oh. That's...that's worse than the movies.”

“Yeah, it's fun. Does make it hard to take people bragging about their submissions seriously, so there's that.” 

“So that happens every _month_?”

“Sometimes twice. Depends on how things fall. But it's not...it's never great, but that was bad. Like I said, once or twice a year it gets to be too much and it's been about that long. I'm probably due.”

“So the next one's gonna be worse. When is that going to be?”

“Twenty-eighth.”

Bayley ran that date through her mental calendar. “We'll be just finishing in Texas then. Are you missing that tour?”

Baron looked at her like she was nuts. “No. I can't afford that now, not right before London. I already made arrangements for it, don't worry about it.”

“What do you mean, you've....” There was a loud knock on the door and Bayley jumped. “What?”

“You _are_ in the there!” she heard Carmella say. “Sara's looking for you.”

“Back to work, champ,” Baron said.

“I'll be right there!” She turned back to Baron. “We'll talk about this later.”

“No we won't.”

She glared at him but didn't have time to argue; when she opened the door Carmella gave the two of them a long look but Bayley saw her swallow back whatever she'd been about to say. Once they were out of earshot Carmella leaned in. “You okay? I can sic the guys on him.”

“What? No, I'm fine. I'm just having a weird day.” She took a deep breath and put her professional face on. “So what did I miss?”

***

When the Performance Center cleared out for the night Bayley stayed behind, sneaking into one of the practice rings and trying to clear her head. It didn't really work but it felt good to sit in the ring with nothing but quiet around her. Being in the ring always made sense, especially when nothing else did.

“You want some company?”

Bayley looked down to see Corey Graves draped over the bottom rope. “You're working late.”

“Voiceovers won't come out right, I decided to take a break.” He climbed into the ring and sat against the corner turnbuckle. “Sometimes I like to just like to sit in the rings at night anyway when no one's around like this.”

“They're going to make you talk to the counselors if they catch you.”

“Yeah, probably. That's why I wait until no one's around. You talk to Corbin?”

Bayley buried her face in her hands. “That obvious, huh?”

Corey grinned. “You look like someone who just found out werewolves were real, yeah. I've been on that jackass for weeks now to let you in on that.”

“How did you find out?”

“That was forever ago. Here's a tip, don't piss off Bray Wyatt when you've got something like that hanging over your head. He holds grudges and will make it so you freak out in the middle of a concert.”

“Oh my God.”

Corey grinned again, like he was telling a really good road story. “It was a lousy show anyway. I got him out of there before anything bad happened, just tracking him down after was a bitch. He got that bear skull out of it, so it all worked out.”

“So you're saying the Wyatt stuff is real too.”

“The more time goes on the more I start to think all of it's real. If Gotch showed and said he was a time traveler instead of some hipster weirdo I'd believe it at this point. And who knows what's really up with Lynch.”

“Stop that.”

“Nah, it's fun.” Corey sighed. “Corbin's gonna be weird for a while, so get ready for that. The first time things went bad he didn't talk to me to two months.”

“He said he bounced you off a wall.”

“Yeah, that was another time. I mean, I guess he did, I don't remember it. I know he told me to take off and I didn't, so it was probably my fault anyway.” 

“How did you get out of that?”

“Don't know,” he said, his brow furrowing. “Looked too good to eat, I guess. I wore the suit I had on that night at R Evolution, I figured it had to be lucky.” He shook his head. “Surprised he even told you about that. I wish he'd get over it, it was almost three years ago. The moon comes up and he won't let me within a hundred feet of him now.”

“He let me come over last time,” she admitted.

“Don't know if that means he likes you more than me or less.” Bayley threw one of her hair ties at him and rolled her eyes when he kept it.

“I didn't give him much choice, really. I kinda just, y'know, showed up.”

“That'a girl.” Corey hooked both arms over the middle rope. “I told Corbin to talk to Finn, maybe he could help him out because it's been getting bad, but he won't do it. He says Finn thinks he's an asshole.”

“Well, whose fault is _that_?”

“Right?” Corey shook his head. “I mean, Corbin's not wrong but it wouldn't matter, I think Finn would help. Corbin would just rather set himself on fire than ask for it.” He leaned his head back against the turnbuckle. “Mind if I ask you a favor?”

“Of course not.”

“When you guys head out to Texas, stay an extra night.”

She guessed he had done that math, too. “You know you don't have to ask me to do that.”

He smiled at that, a genuine one instead of the patented Corey Graves smirk. “I know they like to hustle you all out of there the last night of the tours. I'll be prepping for the pre-show and wouldn't have been able to sleep up in Stanford if I didn't make sure.” He stood back up, testing the give on the ropes. “Go home. Or come watch me keep fumbling my lines, I could use the company.”

“Maybe in a little while.”

“Just don't fall asleep out here, I've done that. The trainers start looking at you funny.”

“I did that a couple of times, too,” she admitted.

“The glamorous lives we lead, right?”

“You're trying to joke around but I know you don't believe it.”

“Not a word. We have the best lives.” His expression turned serious. “I'm going to be that asshole who makes you promise that both you idiots make it to London now.”

“You got it.” That seemed to satisfy him; he slid out of the ring and pulled some production notes out of his pocket as he started back toward the recording rooms. “Hey, Graves.” He turned around. “So you've seen it at least twice then, right? How bad is it?”

Bayley felt a chill run through her at how his expression changed. “You've seen how hard he fights to keep it from happening, right?” 

She nodded.

“There's a good reason for that.”


	4. Chapter 4

The second the end bell rang on Baron's match that last night he took off. Bayley's match had been next and she kicked herself for not bribing some PA to follow him; by the time she got to the back and changed he was long gone, not even bothering to take most of his things. From what she could tell he hadn't even changed, just grabbed his phone and keys and jumped in the rental. Bayley wished she'd asked whether silver worked on him the way it did in the movies because the idea of punching him with some of her grandmother's old silver rings was suddenly very appealing.

But at least he'd managed to grab his phone. After checking with the hotel to see if he'd gone back there, and of course he hadn't, why would he make this easy, Bayley drove to a park a half mile from the arena and tried to calm herself down as she called Baron's number every five minutes. They were supposed to go right from the arena to the airport and Bayley hit ignore on the calls that kept rolling in trying to figure out where she was now, too. She'd already sent a text to Carmella saying she'd catch a later flight, word would get around and she'd figure out some excuse later. 

Maybe it would be fine. Baron had already said he'd made arrangements to ride this out. He'd been doing this a long time, she was sure he knew how this worked.

Bayley had never really figured out the trick of lying to herself. Baron had been shaky and in pain and trying to hide it from the second the sun set behind the arena; she'd watched his match and when she closed her eyes she could see the look on his face after half the referees in the building finally pulled him off poor Elias after the DQ. Like he'd just realized where he was and what he'd been doing.

It was a clear night and Bayley stared up at the moon laughing at her through her windshield. She couldn't believe she'd ever thought full moons were beautiful.

She'd long since lost track of how many times she'd tried to call, easily somewhere past fifty. When he finally answered Bayley was so relieved she almost burst into tears. “Why do you keep calling me.”

Her stomach dropped. He sounded awful, like he could barely force the words out. “Where are you?”

“Still in Texas.”

“Yeah, I know, so am I. _Where are you?_ ”

That he clearly hadn't expected. She wondered if he'd only answered because he'd assumed she was somewhere over Louisiana by now. “What...why aren't you on the plane?”

“Same reason you're not. Stop not answering the question.” He was quiet for a little too long. “Don't you dare hang up on me.”

“Samson okay?”

“You broke his nose pretty bad but they don't think he's concussed. He's not even mad, I think he said he was going to write a song about it.”

“I don't remember any of it. That's never happened during a match before.”

Bayley knew it was a horrible sign he wasn't hiding how panicked he was. “Come back to the hotel. We'll ride it out the way we did last time.”

“It won't work. I shouldn't have done the match, it pushed things too far.”

“Okay. Okay, I'll come to you.”

“I don't want you to see this.”

“Then you shouldn't have answered the phone. Now tell me where you are.”

She listened to his labored breathing for what felt like hours. “The VA hall on 9th and Elm. Head down to the basement. I do need help with one thing.”

Bayley started the car. “Don't turn into a monster before I get there.”

“Then you better hurry.”

***

Bayley pulled up to the VA hall and found Baron's rental parked halfway onto the lawn. The door was locked but she managed to boost herself up through window without much problem. “Charlotte, thank you for making me do all those pull ups,” she said to herself as she looked for the stairs down to the basement. 

She found Baron huddled up on the floor in front of what looked like the boiler room, shaking hard enough for Bayley to see it from across the room. “You took your time.”

“It's literally been ten minutes. Why are we here?”

“Guy in charge of security here was on the practice squad with me when I was in Arizona. I knew he wouldn't ask questions.” He nodded over to the heavy boiler room door. “It's not perfect but that should hold.”

“What did you need me to do?”

Baron picked up a heavy steel chain coiled up beside him. “Can't wrap this around the door handle if I'm on the other side of it.”

It was a _big_ chain. “Do you really need that?”

“Let's hope not.” He doubled over, his head pressing tight against his knees. “Sorry I didn't answer the phone sooner. 

Him saying something like that scared Bayley more than seeing the chain. She knelt in front of him and took both his hands. “Baron. Look at me, okay?” 

He shook his head. “You don't want me to.”

“Yes I do.”

He shivered hard once, then his head picked up, revealing bright yellow eyes where dark ones should be. “Told you". 

Bayley realized until then she hadn't really believed any of this was real. Before she could say a word his lips twisted into a feral snarl and he lunged; she scrambled back he he caught himself at the last instant, the same look on his face as when he'd been hauled out of the ring. He pressed himself back against the wall, strange yellow eyes wide and scared. “Chain me up and get the hell out.”

Instead she knelt back in front of him and kissed him. He whimpered and kissed back like he thought it was the last thing he'd ever do. “Look at me,” she ordered again, cradling his head. “You're going to get through this, okay? This is going just another night. Get through this and when we're in London I'll take you to that stupid Ripper museum you won't shut up about.”

“You are...you are the worst fucking liar I've ever met.”

“I know I am. That's why I don't do it.”

He doubled over again, curling up on the floor. “Promise you'll leave the second you close that door on me.”

“You got it.”

“ _Mean it_ this time.”

“I will. I promise.”

He reached out one arm and she helped him back to knees. It took two tries but he managed to stagger to the metal boiler room door and half fell inside, crumpling up and shaking on the cold floor. 

Bayley didn't want to close the door. She could see bones start to shift under his skin and poured all of her will power into not throwing up. When he caught her eye with a furious, _shut the fucking door_ look at seeing her still there she slammed it shut before she second guess herself. The handle of the was the kind with one part on the door and the other on the wall so it was easy to secure the chain. Once she set the padlock she stepped back, making a point of keeping her steps loud. “Okay, the chain's set! I'll be outside!”

She counted to sixty and then crept back to sit against the boiler room door. When the groans finally turned to screaming Bayley wondered if it had only taken so long because he hadn't want her to hear. The screaming wasn't even the worst part; Bayley made out a sharp, sick crack followed by an agonized “ _Fuck_ ” and fought the urge to put her hands over her ears like a little kid in a storm. 

After a few more minutes the screaming stopped, replaced by an eerie silence that settled in her gut like a rock. “Bayley?” 

She dropped her face into her hands. She was going to hear Baron call for her like that in her nightmares for the rest of her life. Her friend was trapped underwater and she couldn't reach him and she didn't know what to _do_. “I'm here. I'm not leaving, I'm going to be right here.”

The next sound she heard was a low, deep growl.

Something big and heavy slammed into the door hard enough to rattle it on its hinges. Bayley scrambled back as a second impact shook it, then a third; a forth impact caused a concave dent in the center of the door, a slight gap appearing along the top edge. “Oh Baron, I don't think this door's as strong as you thought it would be.”

She'd kept her voice barely above a whisper but sounds of movement behind the door stopped. After a few seconds she heard heavy breathing up at the gap on top, then what had to be claws scraping down the inside of the door, like nails screeching down a blackboard amplified by a thousand. Just the once. Like something considering its options. 

Bayley jumped when she heard the howl. She'd only heard actual wolf howls in movies but coyotes plenty of times in real life and this didn't sound like either. Another howl echoed through the basement and Bayley felt her skin try to crawl right off her body. The howl was somewhere between a shriek and a rasp, like the horrible screeches Ringwraiths made in the Lord of the Rings movies only big enough to fill the entire room. Whatever it was in there started slamming itself into the door again, faster and frenzied this time and that snapped Bayley out of it. “Stop,” she said, having trouble keeping her voice from cracking. She realized this was what he'd meant when he'd mentioned the possibility of “busting” himself up. She'd been so disturbed over the idea of it being hard to “come back” she hadn't even considered something could go wrong long before that. “ _Stop that._ ”

She was surprised when that seem to work for a few seconds, but then it started right back up again. The door rattled in its frame and Bayley knew it had been a mistake to stay. He was trying so hard to get out because he knew she was there. If this really went bad it would be her fault, she had to figure out how to fix this.

The next time he threw himself at the door the bottom hinge finally buckled but it took Bayley time to notice; all her focus was sharp yelp she heard at the point of impact and the scuffling sounds of retreating after, a heavy thud and a low whine. Bayley crept forward a couple of feet, her heart climbing into her throat when she didn't hear any more movement.

Just as she got close enough to almost touch the door one final impact finally ripped the door half off its hinges. The chain held; that and what was left of the hinge kept the door hanging in place, with just a gap she might be able to fit through if she squeezed. The sound of heavy breathing was easier to make out now, interspersed with the clack of claws scratching the floor and irregular, pained whimpering.

Bayley couldn't help herself. She knelt by the crack and peered inside, her chest suddenly too tight to breathe. 

Inside the room was an enormous black-furred wolf as long from nose to tail as Baron was tall; its head was slung low but Bayley thought it would easily come up to her shoulder. It limped on its right front leg and she saw droplets of blood dotting the floor. The wolf's head picked up, sniffing the air; it swung its head around and suddenly bright gold eyes were locked on her. She heard it snarl and before she could even breathe it charged.

She flinched just in time and the wolf's jaws missed her face by less than an inch. It yelped again when it hit the bottleneck of the broken door and slunk back, limping badly enough for Bayley to worry it was going to fall again. It didn't though, its tongue lolling out of its mouth as it looked her again and there was something disturbingly _familiar_ about its expression. For just that split second it was exactly the way Baron smiled when he landed that big boot out of nowhere.

That was exactly what she needed to take the edge off the terror. “Okay, yeah, big bad wolf, I see it now.”

The wolf's ears pricked up and then lay flat against its head. It charged again and this time Bayley forced herself not to flinch, staying just out of reach as it hit the bottleneck again. “You're just going to hurt yourself more if you keep doing that,” she said, making sure to keep her voice level as it limped back.

She could swear it glared at her. She shifted forward another foot, her heart hammering so hard against her breastbone she wondered if it could hear it. “I know you're in there, Baron.” Its bared its teeth, its ears going flat again. “I don't think you realize you're in there, but you are.” It snarled seemingly in response and started to pace the length of the boiler room, looking at the broken door like it was trying to come up with a plan. “Baron, _look at me_.”

The wolf's head swung around like it was on a string. “Good boy.” The ears went back again and Bayley had never seen an animal look insulted before. “Sorry. I channeled Alexa there for a second, huh?” The ears pricked up and tongue lolled out again, looking for all the world like it was laughing. “See? I knew you were in there.”

She scooted forward another few inches; every time she moved the wolf's fur bristled up and it sniffed the air, getting more fidgety and agitated the closer she got. It coiled up to charge again three times before seeming to think better of it, going back to making painful rounds back and forth across the room. “You need to calm down. You're limping, you need to stop trying to walk.”

Instead of listening the wolf walked right up to her, close enough for her to feel its breath on her face. Its growl was so deep she could feel the vibration, like a speaker with the bass turned up too high. 

So this was all going well.

It howled again, so loud and shrill Bayley had to put her hands over her ears. “Okay, I get it!” she snapped, and she could swear the thing looked surprised. “I get it, you are a big scary horrible monster. You want to scare me, you got it, I'm scared. But I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere because I know you're not going to do anything to me.” The longer she spoke the more worked up the wolf got; it was back to pacing again, limping back and forth across the length of the room. “You know how I know that? Because you bounced Corey Graves off a wall hard enough that he doesn't remember it and then didn't _touch_ him. And I'm betting you were locked up like this then, too, so it's not like you knocked him out and ran off, one of you would have mentioned that.” The wolf was frothing it was so worked up, pacing and snarling and starting to charge but reeling back. “You told me when you're like this you go for the first person you see but you had him helpless and then stayed so far away he was able to wear the suit from that night on TV. So maybe it's true that if it was a stranger here you'd go for them, and I bet if Apollo was here you wouldn't wait for London but you recognized Graves. And I know you recognize me. So I know you're not going to do anything now.” The wolf howled, the way its fur bristled up making it look even bigger than it already was. “Yeah, I get you don't like hearing that but it's true.”

The wolf snarled again and backed up all the way to the other side of the room, coiling up for what Bayley knew was going to be another big charge. “Okay then,” she said. She was lightheaded, she felt so scared. “Maybe I'm wrong. This whole past year has been nothing but one person after another telling me I'm wrong about everything. What's one more?” She moved up so she was kneeling just outside the door and beckoned him forward. “Come on, then.”

The wolf charged faster than she could breathe, even with the bad leg. Bayley forced herself not to look away, not to move, not even to flinch. The wolf launched itself into the air and Bayley looked into its eyes the whole way.

The wolf's jaws snapped shut just shy of her throat. It dropped to the floor off-balance and took a few seconds to struggle back up, shaking its head in a near-human, _what the fuck just happened?_ way. “Haven't been wrong yet,” Bayley said to herself, shaking so hard she was almost on the floor too. She got herself together and watched the wolf pace, its movements halting instead of the smooth if injured grace from before. “Baron.” It took a few more tries but the wolf finally looked her way, its ears pinned back and head low. “Told you.” It snarled, another sharp shake of its head. “Okay Baron, here's how it's going to go: you're going to fight just as hard now as you did the night I was at your house. I'm gonna talk you through it just like I did that night and then in a couple of weeks we're going to London so you can beat the hell out of Apollo.” The wolf's ear pricked up, its tail wagging twice. _There you are._ “So I want you to get loud in this thing's head and tell it to be a good dog until sunrise.”

The wolf didn't seem to like the sound of that so much. Its snarled again, pacing in a circle and making two more aborted charges, stopping each time at time at the edge of the doorway. Bayley ran through the match she'd had that night point by point and then the early part of the card she was sure Baron hadn't paid attention to. After a while the wolf retreated to the back corner of the room, snarling whenever it looked her way and Bayley pretended not to notice, digging up every detail she could remember, right down to that guy in the front row who'd worn five different merch shirts at once and peeled off the top layer one for each new match. 

Sometimes the wolf's expression shifted for just a few seconds, like something surfacing for a few seconds before getting pushed back deep down, and Bayley kept talking about anything she could possibly think of until her throat ran dry.

***

According to Bayley's phone it was exactly one hour and ten minutes past sunrise when Baron finally started waking up, which meant she'd only been panicking for an hour. An hour five, tops. “You _do_ sleep like a rock.”

That startled him all the way awake. Baron looked around like he was expecting a fight for a second until he saw her and seemed to recognize the room. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Sun came up an hour or so ago.”

“That's pretty good. I was out the whole next day once.” 

He noticed the blankets she'd piled on top of him and gave her a look. “They were in trunk of the rental. They looked, y'know. Clean enough. You were shivering a lot. AndI did grab the stuff you left at the arena.”

Baron nodded. “Thanks. I wasn't thinking real clear last night. I've lost a lot of stuff over the years.” That was when he looked over her shoulder and spotted the destroyed boiler room door. His eyes went wide and the shakes came back; she shifted over to block the view of the door the best she could. “Hey, it's all right. You did break the door but the chain held so you didn't get out, no villagers were eaten, nothing like that.”

“I was a little worried about that door,” he admitted. “I just didn't have time to find anything else.'

“How's your arm?” she blurted out, not able to keep the question back anymore. He didn't _seem_ like he was in a lot of pain but it had looked so bad a few hours ago.

“Sore?” He tested the range of motion. “I'm always sore after, I don't know what I do to fuck myself up so much every....” She could see it slowly sink what it must mean that's she'd known to specifically ask about his arm.

“Look, you had to know I wasn't actually going to leave you in this creepy basement, right? And see, I'm fine,” she said, holding out her arms to show him. “Not a scratch.”

“That was such a stupid thing to do.”

“I know. But I couldn't leave.”

Baron lay back, his hands over his face. She scooted over so his head was back in her lap instead of on the concrete and squeezed his hand. “Did I scare you?” he said.

Bayley took a few seconds to figure out the right way to answer that. “I don't scare easy.”

Baron nodded “I think I dreamed last night. I never do that, I never remember anything.” 

“Maybe you're finally getting the hang of this.”

He looked up at her for a long time, a very faint ring of gold still outlining the irises of his eyes. “I will never ask this again but I think I could really use one of those hugs right now.”

Bayley didn't need to hear that twice. She slipped underneath the blankets and wrapped both arms around him as tight as she could. “Your pulse is still going so fast.”

“Yeah, it takes a while to get back to normal,” he said into her hair.

“Do we need to get out of here? Are people showing up?”

“No. No, place is closed today, that was half the point.” He sounded so exhausted he was practically half asleep already. “Sorry it's not that comfortable. I'm not gonna be able to move for a few hours, I don't think.”

Bayley hooked her leg around one of his, his arm wrapping around her waist in response. "I'm okay with not moving for a while." She could feel his heart beating right beneath the caged one he'd inked on his chest, the rhythm slowly calming as his breathing went deep and even. “I'm fine. I'm fine right here.”


End file.
